Evaluation is the interpretation of content (the what) and analysis of method (the how) in relation to a given statement. It’s important, therefore, that you evaluate the ‘how’ as well as the ‘what’ in your answer.
When you reach Question 4, you will already have read the source and annotated it with language features for Question 2 and structural features for Question 3. You will now want to look at the extract again and evaluate the ideas within the text. This means you are being asked to:
- evaluate the effects of the writer’s methods used to convey these ideas
- support with textual references
- focus on the given statement.
Here is an example of Question 4:
- Question 4 tests your ability to evaluate the text critically and support this with appropriate textual references:
- This question assesses your ability to evaluate the effects of the writer’s methods used to convey ideas
- The quality of the evaluation of both ideas and methods is the most important part of this question
- The question will ask you to respond to a certain area of the extract:
- It will provide you with a statement and will invite you to respond to and evaluate it
- The intention of the statement is to prompt your thinking, giving you a starting point or a steer
- This focus of the question: “To what extent do you agree” will always be the same:
- This allows you the freedom to choose your own examples, but it should also remind you to consider the effects on you as a reader
- The challenge in this question is that you need to maintain a critical distance:
- You can agree, partially agree or disagree entirely with the statement, as long as your views are appropriately supported by the text
- It is not essential to include a counter-argument, or to cover both halves of the statement
- The examiner is looking for a personal judgement which is informed and evidenced through references to the text
- You will always be given three bullet points to help structure your answer:
- The bullet points provide a helpful guide and prompt you to concentrate on how the writer leads the reader through the text
- The final bullet point intentionally prompts you to go beyond the guide in the previous two bullet points and to bring in any features that you feel are relevant to the question